The Empire of The Sun made the Nazis look like wet nurses. Not to diminish the evil of the Nazis, but the Japanese really were that bad to the countries they occupied. The Nazis would murder your whole village and send your women off to rape camp with machine like efficiency but they did it with typical teutonic adherance to some sort of order. "Line them up and machine gun them". "Eveybody in the showers, then they go in the oven". It was workman like and they had a specific order they did things in for specific reasons. (Even if those reasons were bat **** crazy and wrong)

The Japanese on the other hand would get downright "creative" with it.

These people would hand out candy to children in the chinese towns that was contaminated with some anthrax the cultured just for the occasion. Then later, when the young ones fell ill, tropps and doctors in gas masks would grab sick individuals off the street and start cutting them open them on the spot. That's just two sentences about one test in a whole campaign. It goes on and on and on...

The scope and variety of atrocities commited by the Japanese is so beyond anything a sane person can imagine that you litterally will feel sick and have to take breaks researching the stuff. There's plenty of photo evidence that you will neve be able to un-see as well.

This is IRL horror ****. That's why it's so swept under the rug and not just by the Japanese. You want to know what happened to general Shiro Ishii after the war?

you're 100% right about all that, and none of it makes edgewalker right about the flag.

"Face punches are an essential character building part of a martial art. You don't truly love your children unless you allow them to get punched in the face." - chi-conspiricy
"When I was a little boy, I had a sailor suit, but it didn't mean I was in the Navy." - Mtripp on the subject of a 5 year old karate black belt
"Without actual qualifications to be a Zen teacher, your instructor is just another roundeye raping Asian culture for a buck." - Errant108
"Seriously, who gives a **** what you or Errant think? You're Asian males, everyone just ignores you, unless you're in a krotty movie." - new2bjj

You're dry-shooting, Heavyarms. You've got nothing but the most generic pop culture dishwater jokes and an impotent anger that i'm not a sexual stereotype but not an ounce of skill in the arena you walked into. You got called on your platitudes, thrashed around the mosh pit and put to bed.

I'm dropping the mic and walking away, because this little rap battle was over yesterday.

I married into a Ukrainian Jewish Family that came over to the US during the Soviet era. My wife's parents take real umbrage with the fact that we buy German cars. Despite the fact that virtually nobody who works in the plants had anything to do with WW2. Even though Henry Ford is long dead and the company and current family harbors no ill will towards Jews. They still won't buy a Ford because Henry Ford was antisemitic.

I find the concept of praising or punishing someone for what their ancestors did to be rather silly.

Now I get we are not talking about this specifically, that indeed we are talking about a symbol that was used in horrible war crimes.

I do see a difference can be made between the Swastika and the Rising Sun Flag. The Swastika has been specifically held onto by hateful people who choice to continue to use it to show their disdain and hate. Is the rising sun flag in particular on the Gi being used in this manner? I highly doubt it. Is it a bit insensitive most likely, was it an overt slight against the rest of Asia, I most certainly doubt it.

Am I bringing anything new to this discussion? Nope but I had a few minutes to kill and felt like having my voice heard.

Oh and that Gi is REALLY fucking ugly I don't think its going to sell because its so fucking ugly not because all of a sudden we are going to be come sensitive towards the Chinese and Koreans.

Well we have something in common, we both have russian women...with the good and the bad :). Any who, when her parents start with this rant just ask them why they didn't go to israel like most of the jewish people from the soviet union. I think that will shot them up a little. Especially now that we are bombed day in day out.

1.) GSP gets paid to wear that gi, most likely getting free stuff to train in and could care less about the matter at hand.

2.) Symbols have been used and reused through out history! (i.e. both iron cross and swastika) both ruined by the nazi party.

3.) I have been to war its hell!!! Sometimes you do things in the name of patriotism that in retrospect you hate yourself for and completely regret. people need to remember the past not live in it. Every culture in this world has screwed over another or tried to destroy another. You guys act like you lived in that time period. But that's just my two cents. I love anyone who is willing to talk or roll to/with me and part friends even if we don't agree.

How you being in "war" has anything to do with this?? does it make you an expert? does it mean you can decide what people should take offense to and what not? did it make you smarter? Or maybe you thought it will impress someone here? What did you regret doing exactly and where?

Well we have something in common, we both have russian women...with the good and the bad :). Any who, when her parents start with this rant just ask them why they didn't go to israel like most of the jewish people from the soviet union. I think that will shot them up a little. Especially now that we are bombed day in day out.

My wife's grandmother actually is in Isreal and her mother just got back from a month long trip there.
They do have quite a bit of family there, I think they actually own a few pieces of real estate there as well.

Is their still Japanese people still using the rising sun flag saying hey we should go invade Korea and do horrible unthinkable things to them? Our their Japanese hate groups that still fly this flag and use it as a symbol of their hate towards Koreans and Chinese peoples?

First, rising sun flag wasn't originally equated to symbol of their (Japan's) hate. It has and still is equated to symbol of Japanese imperialism which led to brutal subjugation of many East and South East Asian countries. Not out of hate but out of colonialism and Japan very harshly treating the newly acquired colonies. Very harshly being a mild words to describe some of their action.

Yes, rising sun is still used as source of nationalism pride in Japan. It is used by right wing groups, sometimes flown in events both military and civilian, and more. Hell it is even still flown by military vessels like the navy time to time.

As matter of fact, during Beijing Olympics people were told not to bring that flag or fly it because it'd piss the sh*t out of Chinese who hosted it.

Secondly, yes there is still lot of bitter foreign relations between Japan and former colonies as well as current existing land/sea grab matter. Unlike Germany, Japan has never formerly apologized or done much to acknowledge or atone for what they have committed. To this day, most of Japanese textbooks gloss over WW2 and do not teach what atrocities were committed. Which is one source of many that still has bitter relationship that sour its nearby neighbors. Another example is that they used comfort women but still refuse to officially acknowledge it.

Third. " Our their Japanese hate groups that still fly this flag and use it as a symbol of their hate towards Koreans and Chinese peoples?" Yes, this is still absolutely true. There are very minor and extremely small portion of the nation but the hate groups do fly the imperial flag as symbol of hate from their perspective. When Japanese want to piss non-Japanese Asians off, they just have to fly that flag and say something about WW2 like we should've never lost and it'll set off fire works.7

Originally Posted by goodlun

So basically what I am saying is if this symbol is still being used specifically as a hate symbol the majority of those in the west don't have a freaking clue, if it actually still is being actively used as a hate symbol and you not just being sensitive to past imperialism please do educate us by pointing to hate groups that are using the symbol.

Once again, unlike Nazi Germany Imperial Japan was not about killing off ethnic races like Gypies or Jews in Europe which Nazi did to take their possessions and to fuel some hate. Imperial Japan was purely about getting colonies for raw material, labor force, etc. Inhumane subjugation of the local population, horrible human experiments, and Japan's attempt to 'overwrite' the culture by implementing Japanese culture were all part of it.

And yes, imperial flag is used by some as hate (extreme right wing group). Not to scale of genocide but hate nonetheless. Even though originally it was out of sense of extreme nationalism/imperialism.

Edit1: On personal level. I found your post to be pretty fucking stupid and is made full of assumptions while trying to sound 'logical'.

Edit2: Let me leave you with this thought. If it offends a whole nation or group of people. Is it not a source of hate? Even if the group that's using that source don't think so? Maybe in hundreds of years, it won't be equated to a negative symbol. Kinda like flying the confederate flag. It used to be associated with slavery. Now not so much but took very long freaking time... Although it still does offend some people. Yes, don't white supremist group fly that flag as source of hate?

you're 100% right about all that, and none of it makes edgewalker right about the flag.

These people were evil-geniuses at a level I could not begin to comprehend. The Nazis were really organized, methodical, evil-geniuses as well.

I will preface this by saying that I am proud to be an American Patriot; I love my country and would defend it any way I can. Here's the but: if anyone thinks the good old US of A didn't so some bad **** too, they are kidding themselves.

It wasn't so much war-crimes, but we came, we conquered, we took whatever from whomever. Early Americans took land, livestock, and freedom from the people who were already here. They used slave labor and even went to war to continue.

Every time I salute our stars and stripes, I see it as a symbol of a free nation. I won't delude myself into thinking our flag is a symbol of purity. Base on the original post, there are probably people in this world who believe the US flag is a symbol of something bad or evil; I ain't buying that.